The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

The threat of imminent shutdown
prompts a small government agency to hire a pair of young independent
contractors to capture a ghost in this British import.

On the way to a pleasantly tidy
ending, Shearer delivers some comical chills and twists, but he takes too long
to set them up. Driven by a blustering government cost-cutter’s ultimatum, the
four (or five, counting the cat) remaining members of the antique Ministry of
Ghosts—originally founded in 1792 to determine whether spirits are bunkum or
real—decide a fresh approach is needed. The “help wanted” card they place in
the dusty window of their ramshackle building draws two students from the local
school: strong-minded Thruppence Coddley, daughter of a fishmonger, and
timorous but game classmate Tim Legge, both white. The author salts his tale
liberally with subtle clues and oddly quaint characters, and he eventually
arrives at some startling (for unobservant readers, at least) revelations. But
aside from brief mentions in a prologue, the two young people don’t even show
up to get the ghost hunting under way until seven wordy introductory chapters
have trundled slowly by, filled with eye-glazing exchanges and daily routines
in an office where nothing much has changed in decades.

Ghost-story fans won’t be
disappointed in the end, if they can slog that far through all the low-wattage civil-service
satire. (Fantasy. 10-12)

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